Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75656 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Kennedy isn’t Blake’s biological mom.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize. You would never know.”
I nod. “She loves her just as much as she does Beckham. They might not share DNA, but they are mother and daughter.”
“If there is anyone who can understand that, it’s me. Well, Crosby, too, I suspect.”
Declan, Ryder, Deacon, Brooks, and Sterling all bring the go-karts to a stop in the line. The girls are all smiles as they wait for help from the attendant to unstrap their safety belts so they can climb out.
“Can we do that again?” one of them asks.
“We can,” Declan tells her. “But the adults are going to go next.”
“Come on, girls,” Alyssa calls out. “Let’s go take a potty break.”
“I’ll come too,” Crosby tells her.
“Aunt Crosby Kincaid is having a baby. Aunt Alyssa is too. They can’t ride,” Blakely tells her friends.
“Just Crosby or Aunt Crosby, sweetheart.” Crosby smiles at Blakely.
“What’s the story there?” Scarlett asks.
“Crosby was—is her kindergarten teacher. She was Miss Crosby Greene to Blake, and then she went and married her uncle. It’s a habit that’s hard for her to break since they are still in school for another week. She still has to call her Miss Crosby or Miss Kincaid. She’ll get it,” I say with confidence.
“That’s the sweetest,” Scarlett announces.
I peer down at her, and I’d love to kiss that smile on her lips. “How about you give that back to Palmer”—I nod to where my sister-in-law is sitting with a now-sleeping Remi beside her in a stroller—“and race me?”
“Oh, honey, are you sure you’re ready for that kind of embarrassment?” she fires back.
I lean in close, feeling her hot breath as it fans across my face. “Bring it, Firecracker.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She turns on her heel and marches over to where Palmer is sitting. She hands her the camera, and the two share a laugh that I’m sure is at my expense. Not that I care.
She waves to Palmer and moves to get in line for a kart. I shake my head and follow along after her like a puppy.
I’m in the middle of an internal debate on whether or not I should let her win when Jade slides up beside me.
“You racing?” I ask her.
“Yeah, we all are.” She nods to where all of my sisters-in-law and even Piper are headed toward us. I scan the room and see Alyssa with Palmer’s camera sitting on the table in front of her. She has Beckham in her arms, and Remi is sleeping in the stroller. Crosby is holding Penelope, Piper’s daughter, while she pushes a stroller that Orion is sleeping in back and forth with her foot, and they both seem to be keeping an eye on Blakely and her friends as they make their way through what I know to be thirty dollars in quarters that Declan brought for the arcade today.
“They’re fine,” Jade assures me. “They can handle it.”
“I know. You all could. You’re like super moms or something,” I tell her.
She laughs. “It helps when you have a huge support system.”
“I don’t think that pizza is sitting well with me,” Piper says from behind us.
I turn to face her. “You okay?”
She waves me off. “Yeah, but I think I’m going to sit this one out.” She steps out of line and heads to where Crosby and Alyssa are sitting. She latches on to the stroller that Orion is sleeping in and begins to push him around.
“Is she pregnant again?” I ask Jade.
She chuckles. “I mean, it’s possible. Penelope will be what, seven months old? She’s a week younger than Orion.”
“We’re going to be covered up with babies, aren’t we?” I ask her. Piper is Palmer’s older sister and Ramsey’s sister-in-law, so she might not be married to one of us, but she’s still family, still connected, and we treat her as such.
“Probably.”
“You plan on adding to that number anytime soon?” Jade asks me as we take a step forward when the line starts to move.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know how soon. I need to find me a baby momma first.”
“Are you looking?”
“I’m not not looking, if that makes sense.”
“Surprisingly, yes, it does. Come on. It’s time for me to show you boys how it’s done.” She starts weaving through the line, that’s all family, to get to the front faster.
“Scarlett already promised to put on a clinic for us,” I call after Jade.
Scarlett, who is standing at the front of the line, holds her hand up to Jade for a high five. “You know it, Kincaid!” she calls back to me.
I’d love nothing more than to march up to her and kiss the sass right from her lips, but I’ve already given my family enough of a show for one day. Instead, I remain where I am, moving up with the line. When I reach the front, it’s just Jade and me left to claim our karts. To my surprise, Scarlett and Palmer are in the last two karts in the back row.